Austenitic stainless steels exhibit a combination of highly desirable properties that make them useful for a wide variety of industrial applications. These steels possess a base composition of iron that is balanced by the addition of austenite-promoting and stabilizing elements, such as nickel, manganese, and nitrogen, to allow additions of ferrite-promoting elements, such as chromium and molybdenum, which enhance corrosion resistance, to be made while maintaining an austenitic structure at room temperature. The austenitic structure provides the steel with highly desirable mechanical properties, particularly toughness, ductility, and formability.
An example of an austenitic stainless steel is AISI Type 316 stainless steel (UNS S31600), which is 16-18% chromium, 10-14% nickel, and 2-3% molybdenum-containing alloy. The ranges of alloying ingredients in this alloy are maintained within the specified ranges in order to maintain a stable austenitic structure. As is understood by one skilled in the art, nickel, manganese, copper, and nitrogen content, for example, contribute to the stability of the austenitic structure. However, the rising costs of nickel and molybdenum have created the need for cost-effective alternatives to S31600 which still exhibit high corrosion resistance and good formability. Recently, lean duplex alloys such as UNS S32003 (AL 2003™ alloy) have been used as lower-cost alternatives to S31600, but while these alloys have good corrosion resistance, they contain approximately 50% ferrite, which gives them higher strength and lower ductility than S31600, and as a consequence, they are not as formable. Duplex stainless steels are also more limited in use for both high and low temperatures, as compared to S31600.
Another alloy alternative is Grade 216 (UNS S21600), which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,171,738. S21600 contains 17.5-22% chromium, 5-7% nickel, 7.5-9% manganese, and 2-3% molybdenum. Although S21600 is a lower nickel, higher manganese variant of S31600, the strength and corrosion resistance properties of S21600 are much higher than those of S31600. However, as with the duplex alloys, the formability of S21600 is not as good as that of S31600. Also, because S21600 contains the same amount of molybdenum as does S31600, there is no cost savings for molybdenum.
Other examples include numerous stainless steels in which nickel is replaced with manganese to maintain an austenitic structure, such as is practiced with Type 201 steel (UNS S20100) and similar grades. Although Type 201 steel, for example, is a low-nickel alloy having good corrosion resistance, it has poor formability properties. There is a need to be able to produce an alloy having a combination of both corrosion resistance and formability properties similar to S31600, while containing a lower amount of nickel and molybdenum so as to be cost-effective. Furthermore, there is a need for such an alloy to have, unlike duplex alloys, a temperature application range comparable to that of standard austenitic stainless steels, for example from cryogenic temperatures up to 1000° F.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a solution that is not currently available in the marketplace, which is a formable austenitic stainless steel alloy composition that has comparable corrosion resistance properties to S31600 but provides raw material cost savings. Accordingly, the invention is an austenitic alloy that uses a combination of the elements Mn, Cu, and N, to replace Ni and Mo in a manner to create an alloy with similar properties to those of higher nickel and molybdenum alloys at a significantly lower raw material cost. Optionally, the elements W and Co may be used independently or in combination to replace the elements Mo and Ni, respectively.